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Dealers claim factory-owned Tesla stores are illegal

Unlike typical dealers, Tesla has a network of "stores" and "retail stores." While reservations can be made for a new Model S or Roadster at the retail store, Tesla says other versions of the store merely direct potential customers to make their reservation online. Most of these boutique-style stores are in shopping malls, and Tesla asserts that they are not sales facilities. It's an assertion with which traditional auto dealers are taking issue.
Dealers associations and networks across the country are doubling down their efforts to make Tesla's OEM showroom network illegal. Tesla has opened 17 stores in 10 states, as well as the District of Columbia.
Dealership associations contend Tesla's notion that sales are not made at these stores, stating that the showroom experience is still part of the sales process. To that end, dealer groups across the country have embarked in legal battles with the electric carmaker. The Illinois Secretary of State has informed Tesla that it is illegal to list CEO Elon Musk as the owner of its Chicago store. The Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association is looking into legal options against Telsa's Westchester store, as well as two others in New York. In Massachusetts, the opening of a store in the suburban Natick Mall is having its legality challenged by the dealer association in that state. California has laws in place that allow for a manufacturer to run its own dealership, as long as it is not within 10 miles of an existing dealer. That practice caught the ire of Chrysler dealers when the American automaker opened its own multi-brand showroom near downtown Los Angeles.

Tesla co-founder Ian Wright surprised at company's success

New Zealander Ian Wright was one of the three original founders of Tesla Motors in 2003 and helped pitch Elon Musk on backing the company the following year. Wright's interest was an electric sports car, and he didn't give up on that idea when he left Tesla in 2004; in 2005 he founded Wrightspeed and produced the X1 prototype, an electrified Ariel Atom that slew ICE supercars, but that company folded in 2008. Looking back at his popular creation, he recently told the San Francisco Business Times that although Tesla's fortune has gone, "quite a lot better than I expected it would," he's still "out of sync" with Tesla's aim. You can see his lack of faith in Tesla by the way he sold his stock after the IPO in 2010. Wright still doesn't fully support the position that simply lowering the price of electric cars will turn into mass adoption. "I still think that's not possible," he says. Wrightspeed the electric car maker has become Wrightspeed Powertrains, building drop-in electric propulsion systems for industrial applications like garbage and delivery trucks, and he's already got companies like FedEx trialing his systems. But he doesn't begrudge Tesla's success: "[They've] done vastly better than I expected that they would, so maybe I'm wrong," he says, and, "What Tesla has achieved in terms of changing people's perceptions about electric cars... is beyond my wildest dreams." In the video above, Wright answers five questions put to him by the SF Business Times about his Tesla experience.

Unplugged Performance Tesla Model S is a blue-sky mod

Sitting outside in the sun at the SEMA show this week was the modified Tesla Model S from Unplugged Performance . As we noted a few days ago, this company wants to be known as the "AMG of Tesla" and has made a few changes to the standard S to try and claim the title. You can read about those changes in detail here but for now we just wanted to share our shots from Las Vegas of the upgraded EV. Now that we can see things better than in the provided studio shots, the modified front end doesn't look quite as rough and the carbon-fiber nosecone has a sleek elegance to it. The car was shut, so we couldn't get a good view of the heavily modified interior. For that, take a gander at the press images in the gallery below.